acter. Tom Peyton, co-owner of Kids Sea Camp. A friendship developed. He was as deeply touched by these dives as I was. And we shared other things as well. We both missed our families and wished we could have them there. Tom’s wish was more realistic than mine since his wife Margo is in the Women Divers Hall of Fame, and their kids are dive instructors. At that time, my kids were five and ten, and my wife is a PADI Rescue diver with 150 dives, but none since our son was born. The logistics were too crazy to figure out diving with tiny kids. And that’s where Tom schooled me on his wife’s brilliant idea. Kids Sea Camp is the only camp I could send my kids to. I started a family late, and I do not want them to hare off to neat places without me. I want to see them experience the things I love. I want to see new places in completely different ways because of their unique perspec- tive. Kids Sea Camp is designed to allow just that. Tom explained that the kids do learn to dive. The older ones get honest-to-golly PADI dive certifica- tions. The younger ones gain experi- ence with the sport and follow a SASY or Seal Team curriculum that sets them up for certification the moment they hit that magic decade mark. This sounded like a fabulous idea, but a set of fortuitous circumstances combined to open up our Thanksgiving holiday and leave us with close friends looking for an adventure. Margo and Tom pointed out that they would serve a traditional turkey dinner at Buddy Dive Bonaire and all the diving we could want. So, three adults, one of whom had never put her face into saltwater, and four kids (seven, eight, twelve, and twelve) took the plunge and headed to Kids Sea Camp Bonaire to dive. My son Abel was a SASY, his friend Henry a Seal, while Henry’s brother Ollie and my daughter Ellie were in the PADI junior open water course. Our friend Libby did an open water course, and Sharalyn and I just signed up to dive. Together. What a concept.
family. I watched my daughter conquer fear and physical difficulty to become a certified diver, just like her mother. Ellie glowed with triumph when she came up from her final certification dive. She did a complicated thing with minimal support from her hovering parents. That has proved to be an accomplishment that has significantly shaped the subsequent months. Abel cemented his certainty that the sea is the giver of all things good. From duck diving to 15 feet to blasting on a tube across the azure waters of the Carib- bean, he embraced the experience as challenging as his little arms could squeeze. And Sharalyn and I could con- nect underwater in ways we had not since we had kids. It was such a simple joy to have her find me a young spot- ted drum and share that giggle at its silly dorsal fin again. It was a reaffirming delight to watch her strap on the gear, check it, and look out for all the other divers who were doing the same thing. My daughter left Bonaire one dive short of double digits. She made it to 18 dives on another trip, several with buddies who dive daily. They were so impressed with Ellie’s skill and her at- tention to safety. The Kids Sea Camp ethos of ‘safety over all things’ is deeply embedded in her, and I felt perfect sending her off to dive with them. A second Kids Sea Camp trip to Anse Chastanet, St. Lucia, fell into our lap. Ellie has nearly 30 dives, Abel is a SEAL with eight dives, and Sharalyn and I are hooked again on a sport that has given me everything. I love seeing their expressions when we talk about where we might all dive next as a family. Roatan? The Philippines? Fiji? Time will reveal everything, but I am sure more Kids Sea Camps are in our future.
idea revolutionized our understanding of vacations. The drill is simple: the kids meet their friends and instruc- tors each morning after breakfast. The adults are then free to head off to dive - with other adults. And dive at outstanding dive sites with top- notch guides, lovely fellow divers, and a wonderfully competent and entertain- ing boat crew. When two tanks have been sucked as dry as PADI allows, we return to the resort to eat more good food than should be legal. Our offspring are happy to learn and play in the ocean with their friends. We don’t see the younger set until mid-af- ternoon; a little scheduling magic with significant implications for bonding with other adults and allowing kids to own their newfound skills. Then, tired and victorious, we get our kids back, damp and bursting with tales, in time to rest up for a siege of the dinner buffet. After dinner, there are often some presentations - a couple of times, I talked about the marine research that is my day job. Then, everyone passes out in preparation for doing it all again. It is difficult to overstate how pleas- antly unusual this vacation was relative to all the others I have taken. The div- ing was fantastic. Buddy Dive was a joy, but the difference was the structure of the experience I could share with my (From left to right) Adam and Ellie Summers pre- pared for a night dive at Anse Chastanet Resort, St. Lucia.
Article by Adam Summers
Dr. Summers is a profes- sor at the University of Washington in Biology and the School of Aquat- ic and Fisheries Scienc- es. He has written more than 150 scientific papers and was the fish guy for Pixar’s Finding Nemo.
As it turned out, the Kids Sea Camp
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